Cher

An Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning American pop culture institution, Cher's one-of-a-kind persona made her an inspiration for the working-class woman and a gay icon frequently im...
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Superstar Cher will be the guest of honour at the amfAR Inspiration Gala in Brazil next month (Apr15), when she is feted alongside fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. The event, which will take place on 10 April (15), will be hosted by British supermodel Naomi Campbell and feature a performance from Kylie Minogue.

Pop superstar Cher has won her battle to help a 96-year-old widow move back to the house she shared with her late husband after hearing her heartbreaking story on a news bulletin. The Believe hitmaker was deeply moved when she learned about the case of Edith Hill, who was separated from her husband Eddie Harrison, 95, shortly after their wedding last year (14) amid a court battle over whether she had the mental capacity to agree to the union.
Harrison died in December (14), two weeks after a court-appointed guardian had his wife removed from their home in Virginia and sent to stay with a relative in Florida, and the family planned to sell Hill's house in Virginia to pay for her to live in a residential care facility.
The story outraged Cher, who offered to pay to fix up Hill's house in a bid to convince a court to let her go home, and cover the cost of her medical care.
Cher testified during a court hearing earlier this year (15), promising to pay for Hill's annual bills, which will cost between $50,000 (£31,250) to $200,000 (£125,000) a year, adding, "If that's what it would have to be, then yes, I'm able to do that... I take care of my mother, I took care of both of my grandmothers, and I know that the one thing they begged me to do (was) 'Don't ever put me in a home'."
The plan worked and a judge has now ruled Hill may return to the property once the repairs have been carried out.
Cher, 68, says of the conclusion, "This whole thing is a travesty, what happens to old people. Once they do the repairs and she comes back home, it's going to be bittersweet because she only wanted to be with him (her husband)."

"If Piers Doesn't Want To See Fishnets, On An Old Diva's Legs... He Should't Wear Them‼️ BREAKING NEWS IM BEING BURIED IN MY FISHNETS‼️" Cher pokes fun at newsman Piers Morgan after he suggested she was too old to be wearing fishnet stockings onstage.

The Matrix is one of the most iconic movies released in the past 20 years. We may think we know everything there is to know about the sci-fi classic, but, like Neo, we haven't even begun to learn all there is to know. Below are 21 facts you probably never knew about the movie:
1. The Wachowskis risked the film's entire budget just to make it the way they wanted.
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The original budget that the Wachowskis pitched Warner Bros. was over $80 million. Warner gave them $10 million, so they used all of it on the opening sequence with Trinity. The opening scene impressed executives at Warner so much when they showed it, they green-lit the original budget.
2. The film differentiates the Matrix and the real world through color.
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The scenes that take place within the Matrix are tinted green; those that happen in the real world have more of a normal coloring. The fight scene between Neo and Morpheus has a yellow tint, since it takes place in neither.
3. Keanu actually climbed out the window without a stuntman.
During the phone conversation between Neo and Morpheus within the MetaCortex offices, Morpheus instructs Neo to go through the window. Keanu did this himself without the aid of a stunt double, 34 stories in the air.
4. The helicopter scene almost caused the film to be shut down.
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They flew the chopper through restricted airspace in Sydney, Australia. Laws in New South Wales had to be changed in order to let The Matrix proceed with filming.
5. Which might explain why the Morpheus' rescue took six months to prepare and plan.
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6. The Wachowskis worked on their vision for the movie for five and a half years.
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The final product, arrived after working through 14 screenplay drafts, took up 500 storyboards.
7. Morpheus, in Greek mythology, is the god of dreams.
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Which is ironic, since he's the man who wakes people from their dream states and introduces them to reality.
8. Keanu Reeves only has 80 lines in the first 45 minutes of the film.
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Of those 80 lines, 44 are questions. That's over his half his dialogue, and it amounts to about one question per minute.
9. All of the color blue was removed from the exterior shots.
The idea behind this was that it would make the outside world of the Matrix seem more grim.
10. Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation was required reading for all principal cast and crew.
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The book, which is about hyperreality and the imitation of real-world processes, can be found in Neo's apartment as well. It, along with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Karl Marx, Franz Kafka, and Homer's Odyssey, were all hugely influential on the film.
11. Will Smith was approached to play Neo.
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"Welcome to the real Will." He turned it down to star in Wild Wild West instead. Good choice? Maybe not, but Smith has since admitted that it was for the best because he didn't actually understand the script at the time.
12. Other actors considered to play Neo were Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Thankfully, Keanu won out. He's really the only Neo we can imagine. #canttouchthis
13. "Neo" is an anagram for "one."
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Which is fitting, really, since Neo is the One.
14. The opening sequence took six months of training to prepare for and four days to shoot.
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15. Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) twisted her ankle during filming, but kept it a secret.
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She was afraid that if she told someone, they would re-cast her, so she kept it hidden.
16. The glyphs on the screens consist of reversed letters, numbers, and Japanese katakana characters.
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17. Given Neo's choice, the Wachowskis have both said they would choose the blue pill.
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18. Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson were both considered for the role of Morpheus.
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19. The film's legacy began to show within 3 years of its release.
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By mid-2002, the Bullet Time sequence had been parodied in over 20 films.
20. When Carrie-Anne Moss saw the first cut, it was the first time she'd ever seen herself in a movie.
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21. Richard Walker, founder of sunglass company Blinde, competed against Ray-Ban and Arnette to design the glasses for the movie.
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He personally designed custom sunglasses for each character based simply on their unique names in order to get the job. Once he got it, Walker was flown into Sydney to make custom glasses for the duration of filming.

"Heard Madonna Fell On Stage. This is Something WE ALL DREAD!! MADGE, I GIVE U PROPS, U R a CHAMP 4 FINISHING YOUR SONG!! HOPE U R UNHURT". Cher praises fellow pop veteran Madonna for completing her set at the BRIT Awards in London on Wednesday night (25Feb15), after suffering a nasty stage fall at the start of her performance of new song Living For Love.

Last night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy brought back his sketch "Wheel of Musical Impressions" and his guest, Christina Aguilera, absolutely killed it. By doing an impressions of her teen-pop rival, Britney Spears.
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"Britney Spears. You know Britney Spears, right?" "Lil bit!"
Watch Christina nail her Brit impression, as well as doing some fabulous Cher and Shakira impressions:
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Sorry Jimmy, as much as we love you (which is a lot), Christina wins this round. By a lot. We'd pay good money for a ...Baby One More Time cover album by Christina Aguilera. Or a duet between Brit and Xtina.
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Christina Aguilera showed off her best vocal impressions of Cher, Britney Spears and Shakira during an appearance on America's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday (23Feb15) as she took part in a fun game. The pop star teamed up with host Jimmy Fallon and used his Musical Impressions Generator to randomly select the person she would have to try and emulate and the song she would have to sing. Among the songs she had to belt out were nursery rhyme This Little Piggy and the Golden Girls TV theme tune.

Actor Don Cheadle received a rude welcome at his first Academy Awards in the 1990s when he was shouted at by photographers to make room on the red carpet for Cher and Jack Nicholson. The Hotel Rwanda star reveals he agreed to take his wife Bridgid to Hollywood's big night early on in his career after gaining widespread recognition for his role in 1995's Devil In a Blue Dress, but had to shell out around $500 (£313) per ticket - and was then subjected to some nasty comments from the paparazzi.
He recalls, "The first year (I went to the Oscars) I was asked to join the Academy after Devil In a Blue Dress, so you join and then you can get tickets to the Oscars, which means you have the privilege of paying like, $500 a ticket... If you're not invited, if you're not nominated that year, you can still go, but they hit you up (charge you).
"My wife convinced me to... take her to the Oscars just so we could have the experience, so we were just by ourselves, just the two of us.
"We were walking into the venue, on the red carpet, stuck between Cher's entourage and Jack Nicholson's entourage, which is not where you want to be, and both about 25, 30 people deep... We're getting elbowed, pushed, shoved. The paparazzi are going crazy, going, 'Cher! Jack! Cher! Jack! Jack! Cher!' The flashbulbs are going off and one guy sees me... and he goes, 'Mr. Cheadle, Mr. Cheadle! Don!' I looked up and he goes, 'Get the out of there!' So welcome to the Oscars!"

Merle Haggard has fired back at Bob Dylan after the folk rock icon called out the country veteran at a pre-Grammy Awards tribute for failing to support his music early on in his career. The Mr. Tambourine Man hitmaker was honoured as the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year at a Los Angeles benefit gala on Friday night (06Feb15), and, during his 30-minute acceptance speech, Dylan praised the likes of Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix and Sonny & Cher for recording his songs and turning them into hits at the start of his career in the 1960s.
He also had choice words for his critics, and pinpointed Haggard as one of his detractors, saying, "Merle Haggard didn't think much of my songs, but Buck Owens did, and Buck even recorded some of my early songs.
"Now I admire Merle... I love Merle but he's not Buck. Buck Owens wrote Together Again and that song trumps anything that ever came out of Bakersfield (the Bakersfield sound genre of country music). Buck Owens and Merle Haggard? If you have to have somebody's blessing - you figure it out. What I'm saying here is that my songs seem to divide people. Even people in the music community."
Haggard learned of his former tourmate's comments on Saturday (07Feb15) and decided to set the record straight by taking to his Facebook and Twitter accounts to dispute the rocker's claims, insisting he has always been a fan.
The Branded Man singer also noted that he and his pal Willie Nelson have even covered one of Dylan's tracks for their upcoming collaboration album.
He wrote, "Bob Dylan I've admired your songs since 1964. Don't Think Twice Bob, Willie and I just recorded it on our new album."

Paid tribute to Bono in the CBS special "Sonny and Me: Cher Remembers"; executive produced

Played herself in William Friedkin's "Good Times"

Published her first memoir, The First Time

Debuted the Sonny and Cher nightclub act

Released the album Heart of Stone, with the hit single "If I Could Turn Back Time"

Returned to her recording career with the album Cher

Ran away from home at age 16 and met Sonny Bono, who was working for record producer Phil Spector

Played a club's proprietor and headliner in "Burlesque"

Recorded first song, "Ringo, I Love You," under the pseudonym of Bonnie Jo Mason; produced by Phil Spector

Had a cameo apperance in the Farrelly brothers comedy "Stuck on You"

First exercise video released, "CherFitness: A New Attitude"

Summary

An Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning American pop culture institution, Cher's one-of-a-kind persona made her an inspiration for the working-class woman and a gay icon frequently imitated on the drag runway. From her beginnings in pop music and ultimate title of one of its top-selling female artists of all time, exotic-looking Cher was known for outrageous costumes and her aching, powerful contralto. But her eventual acting success in films like "Silkwood" (1983), "Mask" (1985), "Moonstruck" (1987) and "Mermaids" (1990) revealed a strong connection to the emotional lives of unstable, overwhelmed, reluctant adults. Her four decade-long career was more of a rollercoaster than most in that league, but the comeback queen always emerged on top with her peculiar ability to parlay the conflicted inner life of a shy loner into a headdress-wearing diva strutting and singing for crowds of thousands.

Born Chastity Bono on March 4, 1969; father, Sonny Bono; appeared with her parents on "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" (CBS); Wrote the book Family Outing (1998) about coming out as a lesbian in 1995; Underwent female-to-male gender transition in 2008

Met on a double date 1962; Married Oct. 27, 1964; Released first album Look At Us in 1965; Co-starred on "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" (CBS) from 1971-74; Divorced June 26, 1975; Bono died in a skiing accident on Jan. 5, 1998; Cher spoke at his funeral

Rob Camilletti

Companion

Met on Cher's 40th birthday; Lived together from 1987-89; No longer together

"I'm insecure about everything, because I'm never going to look in the mirror and see this blond, blue-eyed girl. That is my idea of what I'd like to look like." - Cher quoted in Cosmopolitan magazine, November 1990

"When we design the costumes for her, it has nothing to do with fashion. It has nothing to do with anything but the fact that we are attempting to present to the world this... creature in her own right" - Bob Mackie quoted in Vanity Fair magazine, November 1990

On her "Infomercial Diva" phase: "My friend Laurie [her hairdresser since 'Mask'] wanted to have a business like Vidal Sassoon. I didn't know it would be seen that often. There weren't that many infomercials then. It's like serial killers - there used to be only a few." - Cher quoted in the Daily News, June 12, 1996

"Yeah. I absolutely care about it [aging] because in our society there's a penalty for getting older. If our society embraced everybody, young and old, then you wouldn't think about it for a second. But our society embraces the young, so when you start to get old, it's like, 'Am I worthless? What's happened to me?' I still feel pretty kick-ass. I'm pretty vital. I have my truck and my motorcycle." - Cher to People magazine, July 1, 1996

"The other day, my son Elijah shaved his eyebrows off and dyed the front part of his hair black. I said, 'You know, Elijah, that looks ridiculous. It's so unattractive.' He looked at me and said, 'I don't want to hear this from you. Do you realize how stupid this sounds coming from you?'

About her worst experience on a movie set: "I guess Peter Bogdanovich [director of 'Mask'] was the worst. At the time, I was so unsure of myself, and he wasn't very nice. One day he said, 'Just remember, this movie isn't about the woman, it's about a boy. I can cut you out.' I thought, 'I'm going to take that information and just stash it, and get real, real tough.' And I did." - Cher in Rolling Stone magazine, Sept. 19, 1996

"If I'd been fucked by my husband as much as I was fucked by Warner Bros., I'd still be married." - Cher quoted in Premiere magazine, October 2002

"If I'd had as much plastic surgery as people say, there would be another whole person left over! I could send her out to work her butt off onstage every night." - Cher Us Weekly Nov. 4, 2002

"When I was 16 years old, I f*cked Warren Beatty. Just like that. I did it because my girlfriends were so crazy about him and so was my mother." - Cher quoted to Playboy magazine, December 1988

In June 2008, it was confirmed by publicist, Howard Bragman, that Cher’s daughter, Chasity Bono is in the early stages of changing her gender – transitioning from female to male.

Affiliations

Founded the Cher Charitable Foundation, which donates funds to various charities and causes close to her heart.